US official says world's largest military power still has interest in regional
Gulf security despite growing energy self-sufficiency

A top US official has eased fears among the world’s largest oil exporters in the Persian Gulf over security guarantees now that America has become less reliant on imports of energy due to domestic shale oil and gas.

At a conference in the United Arab Emirates over the weekend, Penny Pritzker, the US commerce secretary, said that America still has a shared “commitment to preserve security and stability throughout the Gulf.”

“That commitment will not change as the US becomes more energy-independent,” she said.

The US has historically played a key role in securing energy supplies from the Arab Gulf states, in particular Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest exporter of crude. However, the success of fracking – hydraulic fracturing – in America has raised concerns that Washington may start to pull its aircraft carriers from the waters of the Gulf separating the Sunni Muslim monarchies of Arabia from Shia Iran.

The US government is under pressure to draw in its horns in the Gulf region as the administration of President Barack Obama makes drastic cuts to defence spending.

US military influence in the region has traditionally been pegged on maintaining the presence of large and expensive nuclear aircraft carriers and the Fifth Fleet, which cruise the waters from the Red Sea to the Strait of Hormuz. During both wars in Iraq and operations in Afghanistan, the US used carriers in the Gulf to launch air strikes and guarantee the region’s energy supplies.

Despite the increase in oil production in the US, Hormuz remains the most strategic waterway in terms of energy markets. More than 17m barrels of crude is shipped daily through the narrow channel which divides Iran from the Arabian Peninsula.

A thawing of diplomatic relations between Washington and Tehran amid negotiations over Iran’s nuclear programme has also led to speculation that the US could be ready to scale back in the region.

Ms Pritzker is in the region on a trade mission, reported Agence France Presse.